Development of a Unique Icing Spray System for a New Facility for Certification of Large Turbofan Engines 2011-38-0099

The Global Aerospace Centre for Icing and Environmental Research (GLACIER) facility has been constructed in Thompson, Manitoba, Canada. This project involves the construction and operation of a facility which will provide icing certification tests for large gas turbine engines, as well as performance, endurance and other gas turbine engine qualification testing.

MDS Aero Support, in partnership with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), Pratt and Whitney Canada, and Rolls Royce Canada, has developed a globally unique outdoor engine test and certification facility. The prime purpose of this facility is for icing certification of aviation gas turbine engines, initially for Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney, two of the three largest gas turbine manufacturers in the world. The facility will provide the aviation industry with the required environmental conditions (by virtue of its location), and capability to meet the growing demands for icing certifications and other adverse cold weather conditions. It will also cater to other performance, endurance and specialty testing outside of the icing season. As a generic engine test facility, it includes the infrastructure and test systems necessary for the introduction of both current and future gas turbine engines. The facility is operated by MDS AeroTest which is a subsidiary of MDS Aero Support, while the icing technology and hardware that is part of the entire GLACIER facility is supplied, owned and operated by NRC on a full cost recovery basis.

This paper describes the new icing facility and provides insight into the design criteria used to create the unique icing spray system developed to meet the large engine testing requirements.